Asheville and Hershey

It was a long drive from Staunton to Asheville, but the scenery was very pretty.  I loved seeing the green grass, trees budding, and daffodils blooming in profusion along the interstate.  Driving through this area, we were reminded of past visits to Bristol, VA/TN, and to Alabama where we hope to spend a week or two next winter.  It is so nice to get away from the snow and cold at least a little while in winter.  We like to walk, and that's iffy up here a lot of the time.

We went up and over some mountains to get to Asheville which is a busy place but very interesting.  Unfortunately, Thomas Wolfe's home was closed Sundays and Mondays, so we could only look at the boarding house his mother ran.

I had used the GPS on my phone for the first time with much success, so used it several more times during the rest of our trip.  I feel so smart!  On Monday we took a trolley tour of the city, which was very interesting.  We walked over to the American Pinball Museum, which was the highlight of the trip for Paul who got to play with "Godzilla."

I liked the falafel we had for lunch so was willing to hang around in the darkened storefront full of ten year old boys and grown men for a while.  We also visited "Gantt Plaza," named for the uncle of a friend.

On Tuesday, we headed north for home, about 1,000 miles from Asheville.   There were some long days on the road, but we did enjoy stopping in Hershey, PA for lunch with some distant cousins - Bernie, Joice, and Walt - I hadn't seen in over 50 years.  All of them had worked at the Hotel Hershey in their teen years or during college vacations, and it was an elegant place for lunch, too elegant for my sneakers.  

It turns out that Joice (far left) is a quilter who showed me a picture of an amazing quilt she'd made for her granddaughter who designed it.  Hershey has changed quite a bit since I was a kid, and I look forward to returning to look around and continuing to get to know my family.  

Once home, there was a mountain of laundry and a bunch of loose ends to pick up.  There is snow on the ground but it's melting fast.  I know we'll still get some more but hope to see a robin outside soon.

Jinny Beyer

 We got back from our southern adventure on Thursday just before lunchtime.  It is good to be home, but it was also fun to be on the road, especially in warmer (to us) climes.   We had some chilly days in Virginia and wore our mid-weight winter jackets most of the time.  Still, a change of scene is always a good thing.

In Harrisonburg, Virginia, early in the trip, we visited the Virginia Quilt Museum, and I marveled at a retrospective exhibit of master quilter Jinny Beyer's work.  She is retiring and recently closed her shop in Virginia across the Potomac from where I grew up.  I have enjoyed using her fabrics over the years.  

Most of the quilts in the exhibit were pieced and quilted by hand, and the fussy cutting was amazing!  My pictures do not do her quilts justice, but I thought I'd share a few anyway.  Up close and personal, they show Beyer's incredible mastery of the craft.  The medallion quilt above appears to be queen-sized, and the blue/green one was a wall hanging.  I love the way it flows.

Just south of Harrisonburg is Staunton, another place we had visited before.  We had tickets to two plays at Blackfriar's Theater and stayed in a hotel right next door.  It's a charming town, perfect for walking, and we enjoyed discovering Trinity Episcopal Church with its lovely Tiffany windows.

On Friday evening, we enjoyed Shakespeare's As You Like It, with just seven actors playing multiple parts.  I love the recent trend of diversity in casting.  This group worked well together, as was seen the following evening in a modern version of Eurydice.  Before each performance, they entertained us with several songs, and after Eurydice we stayed for a "talk back" with the cast and crew which was very interesting.  We hope to get back to Staunton again.  

[more on our trip to come!]

A Sunny Friday

I was up early today so Paul and I got his pills ready for the coming week before going grocery shopping.  I take him along these days so I don't have to find a staff person to reach the top shelves.  Everything I buy - bread, selzer, milk - seems to be unreachable on the top shelf.  We got some road food for our brief trip south.  We plan to leave Wed. and spend the first night in Wilkes-Barre, PA.   I no longer have relatives that I know of there, so it's just our usual stop on the way south.   

Thurs. we'll be in Virginia in a couple of spots and then Sunday we'll head further south for a few days.  We have no reservations for post-Virginia.  Just hoping to encounter some spring!    On the way home, we'll stop in Hershey, PA, for lunch with cousins I haven't seen in 50+ years.  I went out to a sugarhouse after grocery shopping for some maple syrup to give them.   

I doubt if I'll get much if any sewing done today, but it's OK.  I've been working diligently on scrappy Hunter's Star blocks most mornings this week.  When my machine was in the shop, I cut out all the pieces I need to finish with my Go Baby die cut machine.  This is contrary to my usual way of doing things when I cut, sew, cut, sew, until done.   I can get 5 or 6 blocks done each day this way - I have 39 blocks made so far, and I'm hoping for 56 or so.

Today, though, I have things to do before we leave for the trip.  I made some little portable greenhouses and planted cosmos and zinnia seeds.  This is an experiment using gallon milk jugs that I cut crosswise leaving the handles.  I punched some holes in the bottoms and filled them with potting soil before planting seeds.  I used duct tape to close them up again and put them on the back porch where they'll get sun and a little rain or snow.  A friend told me she does this every year with great success.  We have the milk jugs, so it's worth a try.

After that, Paul and I took a walk around the neighborhood.  We've had so much gloomy weather that it is a treat to be out in the sun.  Walking is important because I've been keeping a close eye on my activity level and food intake as part of my Preventing Diabetes class.  It's via Zoom and, although we started with about 20 people, we were down to about 8 in just a few weeks.  I haven't really learned a whole lot new, but it does help keep me focused.  It's sponsored by our local hospital, and Zoom makes it easier because I don't have to drive up there in iffy winter weather.

This n that

 

Yesterday was a good day for sewing (isn't every day?).  I finished quilting the Pineapple quilt and started adding the binding.  At that point, my machine began making a horrendous noise, and every time I stopped and lifted the "dual feed" presser foot, the foot would not come down until I started sewing again.  When it did come down, it was with a loud "thunk," and the whole experience was noisy ("clackety clackety").  

I need to take it my machine in for repair again as there is something wrong somewhere.  Perhaps the dual feed foot has worn out?  That will take another few weeks which was not on my "schedule."  (I'm retired and have no real schedule.  I just don't like inconvenience!)

I worried when I finished the binding that the presser foot would not go down with a regular piecing foot, but everything was just fine.  I made the eight blocks for this month's "Rows Parade" quilt along with no problem.  They finish at 6", and I left them detached because I'm not sure how I'll arrange them yet.  Aby D., the quilt along's designer, has suggested a couple of ways to arrange the blocks, include a row by row.  I'll wait til I'm nearly done before deciding.

This morning I got busy making the first of seven sections of a quilt using vintage linens and hankies.  I have a lot of hankies and am always looking for ways to use them.  Rhonda Cox Dort has a Facebook group called "1914 Boehm House Vintage Linens Class" and offers one or two patterns each year.  

Although we can use any fabrics we'd like, she suggested two colorways for this quilt.  

I chose blue and white because I have quite a few hankies with blue in them and quite a few blue fabrics.  I'm using left over quilt blocks, scraps, and various white prints to go with the hankies and other items I'm including.  This is fun - somewhat improvisational.  

I'm going to set this aside for a while and work on some more Hunter's Star blocks for the next couple of days.

Daily snow

We have had a fairly quiet winter so far, and the temperatures have been pretty nice.  The sugarmakers got an early start, too, with the much-needed above freezing days and below freezing nights.  I think that's still the case, but now we have been having snow every other day, making for slippery roads.  Tuesday, we were to go to Burlington, an hour away, for the musical The Book of Mormon.  I bought the tickets in November, and we planned to spend the night at Pauline and Bob's.  They live about 1/2 a mile from the theater, and Pauline was going with us.  

It snowed all day, but we headed out at 3 pm anyway.  I took it easy driving, and we made it without any problem.  There was an accident that closed the interstate, but we were luckily on the other side.  Pauline's dinner was great; the show, too; and we were able to catch up with Bob at breakfast.  The roads home were clear and dry, as is typical of Vermont.  If it's not snowing, all is well.

Today it's snowing again (every other day, remember?), so I'll stay in and continue quilting on the pineapple quilt.  I'm doing "organic" wiggly lines across with my walking foot, and so far, it's looking good.  There was a little bleeding of hot pink when I spritzed the lines, but I don't anticipate selling or giving this one away.   It took so much work that I want to enjoy it myself, at least for a while.